Shuttleworth: Ubuntu is heading to phones and tablets

Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth has revealed that Canonical aims to bring the …

The Ubuntu Developer Summit, an biannual event at which members of the Ubuntu development community gather to lay out a roadmap for the next version of the Linux distribution, will take place next week in Florida. As usual, Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth will start the event with a keynote.

According to an early report from ZDNet, Shuttleworth will announce plans to bring Ubuntu to smartphones and tablet computing devices. The company says that it has been discussing the plan with hardware partners for the past 18 months. No specific hardware vendors have been named yet and there is presently no concrete timeline for product availability.

Canonical’s focus for the first half of 2012 will be stabilization and improving the platform for the enterprise desktop. As we previously reported, Ubuntu 12.04—scheduled for release in April—will offer an extended long-term support period for business users. After the 12.04 release, the focus will reportedly shift towards mobile.

Ubuntu’s new Unity shell will play a key role in Canonical’s plans to bring the Ubuntu user experience to smaller screens. The platform already has preliminary tablet support, including experimental functionality for touchscreen-based window management. It seems likely that the Qt-based Unity 2D experience will serve as the mobile implementation. The Qt Quick user interface design framework is well-suited for building touch-friendly mobile experiences.

Although few details about the Ubuntu mobile platform are available now, more information will likely surface on Monday during Shuttleworth’s talk at the Ubuntu Developer Summit.